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Message from the Mayor About the Streetscape Project

MAYOR’S MESSAGE ABOUT THE STREETSCAPE PROJECT – FEBRUARY 22, 2018

In early 2015, Flemington was awarded a $1M Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant to make streetscape improvements to the portion of our Main Street between Bloomfield Ave. and Mine St. The grant will include new sidewalks and curbs, trees, benches, lighting, crosswalks, bike racks, and trash and recycling receptacles. The project is being coordinated by the streetscape committee whose members are Council President Brooke Warden, Councilman John Gorman, Public Works Director Mike Campion, Borough Engineer Rob Martucci, Flemington Community Partnership (FCP) Executive Director Ann Meredith, and I.

TAP projects involve federal funding and are subject to a well-defined schedule that includes oversight by and step-by-step approvals from state and federal agencies. Our project is awaiting what should be a final approval from one of the state agencies. We anticipate that the earliest we could begin construction would be the last week of August, 2018. Construction should take about four months, which, if done without interruption from around Labor Day, would run through the holiday season. We are also considering options that would not interfere with holiday business traffic, such as splitting construction into two phases (before and after the holidays) or starting next spring.

During construction, we expect to work on one section of one side of the street at a time. For example, we might start on the east side of Main at Bloomfield and work one section at a time down that side to Mine, then move to the west side and work back toward Bloomfield. Two-way traffic would be maintained throughout except for possible periods of a few hours when pouring concrete might require restriction to one lane. Street parking would remain available except for the section that is actively under construction. Street access to businesses would be maintained at all times except that there could be a 24-hour period to allow concrete to dry enough to support foot traffic.

Our goal is simple: make these improvements with the least possible disruption to Main Street business operations while getting the project done within state and federal timelines. We are working closely with the business community via the FCP to make sure we are coordinating planning and operations to meet our goal. To that end, the FCP will hold a meeting in early March to gain more feedback from the business community. Shortly thereafter we should be able to choose a preferred construction schedule.

This will be a great project for Flemington! We look forward to getting it done and will do our best to keep everyone up to date on the status and future plans.